Measuring apparatus for beverage brewing machines



Aug. 12, 1952 2,606,697

MEASURING APPARATUS FOR BEVERAGE BREWING MACHINES Original Filed Nov. 10, 1945 s Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR' BY 7/ v I,

ATTORNEYS.

g- 12, 1952 l. 5. LIME 2,606,697

MEASURING APPARATUS FOR BEVERAGE BREWING MACHINES )riginal Filed Nov. 10, 1945 s Sheets-Sheet 2 80 .s 3 32 Lame V 22 INVENTQR BY i 1 I I ATTORNEYS.

Aug. 12, 1952 LIME 2,606,697

MEASURING APPARATUS FOR BEVERAGE BREZWING MACHINES Original Filed Nov. 10, 1943 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 I 24 75 6 A; E E E INVENTOR ATTORNEY S a Patented Aug. 12, 1952 MEASURING APPARATUS FOR BEVERAGE BREWING S" Iola s. Lime,,Kansas City, Mo.

Originalapplieation November 10, 1943,; Serial No. 509,775, now Patent No. 2,433,054fdated December 23', 194-7: Divided and this applicatign November 13-, 1947, Serial; No. 785,721..

This invention relates to' a measuringapparatus for a beverage-brewingand vending. machine, and more particularly, isa division of. my copending application, covering a beverage-brewing;

and vending machine, filed November 10, 1943, and bearing Serial Number.509,775, now. Patent No. 2,433,054 issued Dec. 23,1947;

I The parent application. has reference to a positioned at a fillingstation, The pathoi' said receptacle and of the material delivered'thereto after it leaves the filling, station, has been described in-- detail in the parent application, and will not be covered herein. I

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a means-capableof being made apart of a machine of the type" stated, whereby an automatic measurementof a quantity ofigranu lated or powdered material, and ofaquantity of liquid, ismade" simultaneously, withsaidmeasured quantities being-simultaneously delivered to the transfer receptacle.-

, It is a further important object of the inven'-' tion to provide anactuating means-ior this portion of the brewing machineywhich can be;

made part'of a linkage system extending-[to the various operating partsoi themachine-,- so that" the operation of the whole machine, including the device which is .the subject of this application, can be coin or check controlled if desired.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists of certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts, hereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claim, it being understood that changes may be. made in. the. construction. andrarrangem'entof parts without ..departing from- .the-spirit I of; "the invention,asl'claimedr 1. l f. LReferringto the drawings: I a I Figure. 1 :is a. front elevationalview of: the measuring apparatus whichis l the subject; oi the presen-t application-.-

Figure 2 is aside elevationalyiew thereof. Figure 3 is an enlarged section on line 3-3 of i ure' I a t I "Figure 4 is .a'sectiomtaken onithe same plane,- showing" operating partsof the liquid-measuring portion of the device in one extreme position.

Claim, (01. 222-340) 2 a Figure 5. is a longitudinal vertical section through the solid-measuring portion, parts being broken away.

Figure dis a sectionon line 6- 6 ofiF ig ure 3, Referring to the drawings in detail, the refer-. encecharacteri designates a portionoi the sup-.- porting frame forthe beverage-brewing and vendingmachine. Mounted thereon is a water container 6 of suitable capacity, preferably surrounded by. insulation}, which canbe asbestos. or other material having the desired insulating; properties. A. supply pipe 8 extends into the-war ter container, for the purpose of keeping it filled, this pipe leading from a supply tank or. other suitable source, not shown. I

Anelectric heating element 9 is contained in the water container. 6, and is adapted to maintain water within the container at. the boilingpoint. This can be accomplished by, thermostatic controls ina manner well known to those skilledinthe art, and no attempt has been made herein to illustrate or describe said controls, sincemeans of this typeai'e well known. I

I The'water container 6. includesan upwardly extended dome, I '0, which is. preferably ofcylin dricaliormation. In the upper portionof the dome in is located a, cylindrical outer valve casing Ii. 'fIThis is provided near one end with a. plurality o'f'inl'et openings i2 whereby water is. free to flow from the water container into the valve casing. That end of. thecasingi i nearest the. openings I2 is closed, by. a head l3 havingna gland i l in which is tightly'fitted a slidable rod I5. Fixedlysecured to rod. laintermediate its ends is apiston l6. I

l5 isextend'ed ,longitudinally; tlrrough a secondarypiston l1 slidably mounted thereon, and thence through a head l8 which closes'thev outer end of a cylindrical innercasingmember l9..

The inner ,end of the casing member 19 provides a. seat 20 for engagementb'y the piston l6. Fixedly secured to the rod i5 is. a. collar 2|, that, constitutes a stop forlimitingthe movement of the secondary piston IT in cnedirectionjon the rod. The secondary piston. 11 i held normally pressed against. the collar by a spring 22 mounted. on the rod l5 between the secondary piston and the headliih I Stop pins 23 constitute means for limiting; the. movement of the secondary; piston I! toward the. openings l2under the-action of the spring22.

Under normal conditions, the two pistons are located asin Figure 3, so that the interior of thavalvecasing is thus divided into an endcham-- ber 24, a measuring chamber 2'5, and an end chamber 26. When the part are in this position, the water filling the dome 10 will, of course, fill the end chamber 24.

A vent tube 21 extends upwardly from the measuring chamber 25 to a point well above the dome of thewater container; and an outlet tube 28 is extended downwardly from the measuring chamber at a point close to the normal position of the secondary piston. This is shown clearly in Figure 3.

At 29 is illustrated a container for holding such material as ground coffee or other granular or powdered material to be used in brewing the particular beverage. This container isprovided with a bottom in the form of an outlet hopper 30 which, as shown in Figure 5, opens into the top of a casing 3| containing a measuring valve 32. This valve is in the form of a slide having an opening 33 normally positioned above, and opening into, a delivery spout 34, When the slide is moved away from normal position within the casing 3|, the opening 33 is brought into register with the outlet in the bottom of the hopper 30, so that the opening will thus be filled with a predetermined amount of the material contained within the hopper. Thereafter, when the valve 32 is returned to normal position, the measured amount of said material will be brought to a point above the spout '34 and delivered thereinto by gravity. At this time, the outlet of the hopper 30 is closed by the valve. This will be apparent by referring to Figure 5. A stem 35 extends from the slide 32 for the purpose of transmitting the required movement thereto. Y

At 36 I have illustrated a portion of a. lever which is part of a coordinated linkage whereby, in timed coordination, not only the measuring apparatus described herein is operated, but also the other parts of the machine considered as a whole. This is described in'detailin my parent application referred to above. Lever 38 is pivotally connectedto the rod l at 31, and is provided with an angular extension 38 (Figure 1) pivotally connected to thestem 35, as at 39. In this .way, lever 36, 'while cooperatin with other 'parts of said linkage, is adapted to operate simultaneously the means described herein for measuring and delivering predetermined quantities of liquids and granular material.

In practice, the lever 36 andfitsextension 38 are normally in the position shown in Figure 2, and when in this position, said lever means holds the parts of the respective portionsfof the apparatus in the normal positions illustratedjin-Fig ures 3 and 5. Movementof the lever means to the left in Figure 2 operates on the liquid-measuring portion to move the piston 16 to the opposed extreme position shown in Figure 4. During the first part of" the travel of this piston, the secondary piston I! moves to the left in Figure 3, under the action of the sprin 22. During-the movement of the secondary piston, it crosses over the outlet spout28, and comes-to a stop'against the stop pins 23, as shown in Figure 4. The pi'ston IS, in th meantime, continues'to movet'o the left until it is in Figure 4.

This action causes water to rush into-the valve casing through theinlet-openings l2, and to fill entirely the space between the piston I5 and sec-- openings lZ, and at the time it h'asclosed off the in the extreme position shown 4 last opening, that is, that series of openings disposed furthest to the right in Figure 4, the stop collar 2| engages the secondary piston H. The liquid trapped between the two pistons at this point of travel is a measured quantity of liquid. Completion of the travel of "the two pistons to the right brings piston l6 against its seat 20, and opens the outlet spout 28.

At the same time the outlet spout 28 is opened, the opening 33 of the slide 32 is brought to position above the discharge spout 34. Thus, there is simultaneous delivery of the water and the granular material to a tranfer receptacle R, that is described in detail in the parent application. Referring to Figure 6, it is seen that the respective spouts 28 and 34 are positioned in side-byside relation at their delivery ends, so that a positive and simultaneous delivery of the materials is made to the transfer receptacle while it is positioned at the filling'station.

' What is claimediszv H In a beverage dispenser an elongated horizontally disposed cylindrical valve casing having liquid inlet openings extending therethrough adjacent one end thereof, an elongated cylindrical inner casing extending into the valve casing through the end thereofiremote from theinlet openings and forming a valveseatwithinthe valve casing adjacent the inlet, openings, said inner casing having a discharge opening extending therethrough adjacent the end-of the valve casing remote from the inlet openings,,an. elongated push'rod carried'by the casings to move,

longitudinally therethrough, a valve carried the push rod for movement therewith between the valve seat and the end of the. valve casing adjacent the inlet openings, a stop collar carried bythe push rod for longitudinal movement therewith intermediate the ends of the inner casing, a second piston mounted on the push rod for longitudinal movement thereon between the end.

of "the inner casing remote from the seatand the stop collar, a compression spring encircling the push rodbetween thelast named piston and the end of the inner casing remote from the seat for yieldingly urging the-last named piston into err-.-

gagement with the stopcollar, and stop pins carried by the inner casing and-projecting into the path of movement of the last 'named piston between the discharge opening and the seat to limit the movement of the last named piston under the. influence of the-spring.

roLA's: REF R NCES-CITED The following references are of record the fileof this patentr v, v

UNITED'S'IlATES PATENTS Number Name. Date 840,686 .4, Brook Jan. '8, 1907 933,528 .Bruce; SeptJ'I, 1909 1,110,135 Henderson Sept. 8,1914 1,268,820 DePew; et ,a1.. June 11, 1918 1,870,188 Abrams Aug. 2, 1932 2,433,054 Lime Dec. 23., 1947 2,464,030 Engstrom Mar. 8, 1949 FOREIGN ZPATENTS Number Country Date 4 2 59.251 Germany Apr. 30, 1913 343.211

Great Britain Feb. 19, 1931 

